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The Bogeyman of Otherness

In my last post, I mentioned that in the U.S., “there hasn’t been an open campaign to wipe out people considered citizens.” After I posted, I realized I had just leaped over an area where people have spilled a lot of ink, pounded a lot keyboards and spewed a lot of vocal venom over, probably since they have existed as a species. The green light to do horrible things to a group has normally come when they attain the label as outsiders, such as the Nuremberg laws in Germany in 1935, stripping Jews of citizenship.

We can start with the problem with “illegal Mexicans,” where, whether as disguised racism or a real concern for our nation’s laws and security, the Trump movement cites this as a national problem. There’s a simple argument of convenience, insisting an advocacy that we live under laws — never mind the disregard for laws our so called president shows. These people are here illegally, so they shouldn’t be here.

However, beyond the scope of our nation’s laws are international laws, standards and agreements on how to treat foreigners. So, for example, refugees can claim amnesty under certain conditions.

Additionally, our nation’s food supply and production is heavily dependent upon mostly illegal immigrants from Mexico. Farms and companies have sought this labor pool because they will do jobs U.S. citizens won’t do, at wages they won’t do. And they are fleeing places that are impossible for many to work and safely raise families, circumstances that our country and its citizens has played a role in, through subsidizing crops and buying illegal drugs.

Let’s acknowledge some things. We all need food. Even poor Mexicans need to feed their families.We depend on illegal Mexican immigrants as they depend on us. Our immigration laws are broken, but we haven’t seen any hope of our Congress fixing that.